The Next Avatar Book 1: Lost
by Jackie Guardian
Summary: "Korra is lost. She saved the world but it cost her life. It has been fourteen years and we have yet to find the next Avatar, many fear the worst. Our last hope lies with Master Jinora behind the walls of Ba Sing Se…"
1. Chapter 1: Greetings from Ba Sing Se

**Prologue**

"I've realised that even though we should learn from those who came before us, we must also forge our own path...so that's why I've decided to keep the portals open. Humans can now physically enter the spirit world and spirits are free to roam our world" Korra stood confident in front of her audience. Republic city's rebuilding had stopped for the morning and its occupants had come out in droves to hear the explanation of yesterday's horror and calamity. "I will no longer be the bridge between worlds. Humans and spirits must learn to live together. My mission will always be to use Raava's light spirit to guide the world to peace and balance." She smiled. After all this time of thinking she wasn't good enough, she had saved the world. She was finally _The_ Avatar, the one the world deserved.

"Harmonic convergence has caused a shift in the planet's energy. I can feel it...things will never be the same again...We are entering a new age!" The crowd screamed for Republic city's saviour once again. Korra raised her arms in the air, joining the celebration with the proud people of world. Korra's face dropped as a flash of blue and white seared before her eyes. She had gotten used to this kind of 'Avatar stuff' but it still had surprised her. The feeling had barely passed before it returned, but this time it was red and black. She screamed and dropped to her knees. Blinded by pain, the uproar of the crowd mixed with the unfamiliar panicked voice of her father slowly drifted away. She was gone before her head hit the stage.

"I'm afraid it's time Korra" Raava soothed comfortingly before she was drowned out by the sound of a screaming baby.

* * *

** Chapter One**

Jinora had been to Ba Sing Se before, albeit not it years, but the size of it always put her in state of awe. Growing up in Republic City, she always thought she was well versed in city life, but her home paled compared to the city stretched out past the horizon below her.

"Come on, let's head down Omaa" she called to her sky bison receiving a deep roar in reply. Jinora had not long ago become an air bending master but just because her two decades of training had finally paid off, didn't mean she had nothing to do. Granddaughter of Avatar Aang, she was still only one of two air bending masters in the world, meaning that there was never a dull moment. The other air bending master, her father Tenzin, was at home in Republic City finishing her siblings training. Jinora worried about him, he had never forgiven himself for the loss of Avatar Korra. It wasn't his fault but she was his student and he had always felt that he owed it to Aang. It was all Jinora could do to stop him resigning from his post representing the air nomads in Republic City but in the last few years she had finally grown up in his eyes, which is why she was here instead of him. She was here to see the Order of the White Lotus. Since the Hundred Year War they had reformed to keep the peace all over the world, and they had together worked to support the Avatar in training.

Omaa roared again. Jinora looked down to see the white lotus symbol stretched over the roof not too far in the distance. She smiled "Well done Omaa" she said with a smile "They should be waiting for us" As they descended the already gargantuan scrawling mass of the inner wall of the city expanded until Omaa gracefully drifted until a garden and saddled up against a large pile of hay. Jinora picked up her bag and staff off from Omaa's back and glided down towards her bison's face.  
"Well done girl, you got us here!" She smiled and enjoyed a small rub of Omaa's nose.

"Master Jinora" came a voice from behind her. Jinora had not quite got used to being called master yet, but she was certainly glad to be getting used to it. "Master Musi" She smiled and bowed.  
"Greetings from Ba Sing Se" The elderly man said kindly "Please follow me, you must be weary from your journey. Tea? ".  
"Well Omaa did most of the work, but it _is_ a long way from Republic City. I would love some" Jinora waved to her bison and followed the man inside. She was surprised to see the amount of members of the White Lotus there were inside, about a dozen people sat around an elongated table all donning the order's blue and white garb. Jinora felt quite out of place on her bordering bright orange and red air nomad outfit.

Jinora sat down at the space set aside for her, greeted the other White Lotus members and thankfully accepted the food and drink presented to her. "Let us get down to business, time is always against us." Master Musi began as he found himself a space at the table opposite Jinora. "As we all know the Avatar is lost. We were not prepared for the tragic loss of Avatar Korra but despite the spiritual difficulties she encountered in her final battle we believed that the cycle would indeed begin again. The last fourteen years we have been searching the Earth Kingdom and the colonies and we still have yet to find them. However there is still hope. Some of our spiritual advisers believe firmly that the Avatar lives or at least recently lived within the walls of Ba Sing Se, but we are unable to advance from there." Musi took it in turns to look at everyone in the meeting and finally rested he eyes back on Jinora. "This is where Master Jinora comes in. I have heard great things about you from your father, especially your connections with the spirit world. Will you help us Master Jinora?"

* * *

Jinora closed her eyes feeling for any signs of the streams of spiritual energies running through the streets. There was something, she could tell, but...the noise of the place, so many different people passing through every hour. Jinora felt so far from some of the air nomad fortresses she had called home over the years. The lower ring of the city was far from anything she had experienced anywhere else, even the rough areas of Republic City had Satomobiles and electricity. People say that Ba Sing Se hadn't changed all that much in the last hundred years. Jinora very much felt that she was in the past. Her musings were interrupted when a scruffy street urchin ran into her. As a master of air she was easily able to stay on her feet by deflecting him. Unfortunately the teen bounced straight of her and fell in the street. As he got up and brushed himself of, Jinora expected and apology but he just stared at her and asked "What's up with your weird clothes?" Jinora was about to reply when what looked like his scruffy brown-haired friend ran caught up. "Come on Shin, we are going to be late! They'll start without us!" She tugged at his clothes and as he started running off again she turned to look at Jinora with a pair of green eyes. "Sorry Miss, gotta run" And with a smile she took off at quite a speed. Intrigued Jinora tried to follow but inexperience of navigating the busy streets and her adult frame prevented from catching up with them. "Good thing I can cheat" She muttered as she kicked the wings of her staff out and took off.

Managing to stay mostly out of sight she followed the pair of kids to a courtyard in one of the more rough areas. The pair of them snuck through a gate in between two buildings as Jinora landed on one of the adjacent ones above. As she climbed over the roof of the building she was slightly confused at what she was seeing. Children of all ages surrounded a large square-ish outline in the middle of a slightly larger courtyard. Within it resided small piles of rocks and several buckets with more sets of lines going across it. The sight continued to puzzle her for a few more moments until the crowd backed off a small amount and three older kids took each side, two of these Jinora recognised as the ones she had followed here. The realisation hit her with a small mouth-drop "Pro-bending?" she whispered incredulously. She knew it from Republic City, it was a game based on bending the elements as a sport. Each team had to knock each other's team off the 'ring' as it was there. Jinora had never played it, though it wasn't designed for air benders, but each team had a member of every other element: water earth and fire.

Another slightly older kid from the sidelines whistled and the match kicked off. Jinora's mouth once again fell open. These kids were giving almost as good and some of the tournament ready teams from republic city and they were doing all without the standard safety equipment. It worried Jinora and she was sure that if her Dad was here he'd try and put an end to it. Though it was likely they would have done it before and they would do it again despite anything she could say. She watched as the girl from earlier hold her own against most of the opposing teams attacks. She didn't look too old but her earth bending was fast, she was blocking so many attacks and never missed an opening. Suddenly Shin came from behind her rock wall unleashed a stream of water catching the enemy team in the faces knocking them all to the floor. "Pretty sure that's cheating" Jinora muttered with a smile. The whistle came for the end of the round and the players un-tensed. Musi suddenly came into her head and she remembered why she was there. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate again. Her mind was clearer up the roof, away from the busy streets. Again there was something not too far away but nothing strong. In the distance, towards the higher tiers of the city she seemed to sense something.

By the time Jinora opened her eyes again the next round was well on the way and her focus went back on to the two benders from earlier who seemed to be using the same tactic. The opposing team seemed none the wiser however and Shin appeared from behind the girl again he let loose another stream of water, but much harder this time, and knocked the team right out of the drawn pitch. Shin threw his hands up in the air in awe though the girl looked much less impressed. "Have to be getting on anyway" Jinora told herself. She stood up and flicked her staff's wings out catching the troubled gaze of the girl. Jinora smiled back before she took off high in the air.

* * *

"No way!" Jinora found it hard to conceal her excitement. She had been following the smallest amount of spirit energy for hours in a desperate hope and she had finally tracked it to here: The Jasmine Dragon. It was a tea shop founded by a very dear friend of hers. When he used to live in the physical world he spent his retirement here, but that was a long time ago. These days she would like nothing better than to visit Iroh and his friends in the spirit world. Jinora was now in the Upper Tier of Ba Sing Se, miles from the sights of markets and street-bending. Everything was very modern here, much the parts of home she was used to. Jinora grinned with excitement and ran inside. The best tea shop in Ba Sing Se lived up to its name and the place was almost full with customers wanted the finest made tea around. As Jinora sat down at the only free table a kindly looking woman came over. "I'll have a Jasmine Tea please" Jinora asked nicely.  
"Certainly Madame" she bowed "Please ask my son if you need anything" She smiled again and Jinora bowed her head in thanks. She closed her eyes to explore the spiritual energies once again. This place did seem like a spiritual hot-spot of Ba Sing Se, though she would expect nothing less from Iroh's tea shop. A sudden shift in energies made her jump back into the room again.  
"Your tea Madame" came a voice from beside her. This time it wasn't the kindly woman, but an older child. His dark hair was smoothed to one side to try and match the posh tea shop he was in. He smiled non-convincingly and departed his blue-grey eyes turning to the rest of the customers. Jinora's heart skipped a beat. "How old is he? Could he be...?" she thought as excitement started to rise within her. "Raava?" She said aloud. A lot of thought had gone into thinking of something to say to a possible avatar if she found them. She was sure whoever they were, they would recognise that name. The boy turned to look Jinora right in the eye. "Excuse me?" He said in a slightly mystified voice.  
"Sorry, you remind me of someone I once knew. What is your name?" Jinora asked.  
"Yi" He replied in a quiet voice.  
"How old are you Yi?" She asked, excitement building within her.  
"Fourteen" Yi responded.  
"Nice to meet you Yi" she said with a small grin. She had to get back and talk with the Order. She could barely contain herself as she finished her tea. Jinora stood up and headed towards Yi's mother behind the counter and dropped a couple of copper pieces in her hand for payment. "Greetings, I am Master Jinora: Granddaughter of Avatar Aang" Jinora bowed. "The Order of the White Lotus would very much like to meet you and your son. When do you close?"

* * *

"I think I've found them!" Jinora came crashing through the door of the order's front day. Most of the members had gone home, just a few remained. Musi looked up from the parchment he was writing on "Really?! Already?" Jinora could tell he wasn't the type of elder who excited easily but she noticed his eyes light up. "How do I know if it is really him?" Jinora asked. It had been something on her mind over here. There didn't seem to be anyway to know for sure until they saw him bend another element. Musi rushed towards a cupboard in the corner of a room. "We came prepared for this" He said quickly, pulling various items out of the cupboard and discarding them on the floor. "Avatar Korra claimed that the link to the previous Avatar's had been broken, and that has neither proved to true or false, but the boy should have links to Korra within him" He exhaled as he pulled out a wooden box out of the cupboard and rested it on the table. "This box contains precious items that various avatars have held dear and different items we could find linked to Avatar Korra. However we can't know until physical proof shows itself."  
"Thanks Master Musi" Jinora, still excited, went to grab the box from the table.  
"Hang on Jinora, we need to alert the councils of the White Lotus and arrange a meeting with the Avatar" Musi held his hand out to stop her.  
"Do we have to? You said yourself that time was running out" Jinora was slightly annoyed with Musi's outbreak and gave him a bit of a stare. He hesitated. "Your right Master Jinora, I apologize." He bowed "It's just it has been fourteen years and I don't want to rush it. However you are Tenzin's daughter and you alone have found the avatar." Jinora felt sorry for the old man, he had been waiting for this moment and now it wasn't his. She bowed to him and picked up the box on the table and rushed back out again."Omaa?" She called, getting a roar in response from around the corner. Jinora took air bending jump, landing on her sky bison's back. "Yip Yip".

The cross city journey took less time than it had taken her alone on her glider, but even on Omaa it took ages. Or at least seemed like it, Jinora could barely contain herself. Even with the demise of Korra, she had left peace with the world and it had lasted many years. But recently trouble had started stirring west of there: humans and spirits had started making trouble again, especially in the small towns and villages where spirits could easily wander in. They liked to live in the wild away from the heavy civilisation of places like Ba Sing Se. Omaa roared and landed right outside The Jasmine Dragon with a heavy thud catching the attention of many passers-by of the Upper Tier. "Thanks Omaa" Jinora glided down of her back and headed for the tea shop.

When she got inside Yi and his mother were sat waiting for him. The rest of the shop was now empty. Jinora put the box of things on the table in front of them. "Welcome back Master Jinora. Excuse me for not introducing myself earlier, I am Yuma and I am looking after The Jasmine Dragon for my brother." She turned to her son "Can you put some tea on Yi?" Yuma smiled as her son disappeared to the kitchen in the back. She dropped her smile for concern as she turned to Jinora. "What is this about Master Jinora?" She asked with more concern.  
"It is possible that your son is the next avatar!" Jinora exclaimed quietly with excitement. Yuma's gaze did not falter, and the concern on her face continued.  
"That's what I thought" She sighed and put her head in her hands. "He's always been different; it makes a lot of sense. He has always been heading for greater things but..." Her voice faltered "..He's all I have left." Yuma looked back up at Jinora, and the air nomad noticed a tear welling in the mother's eye. Jinora put her hand on Yuma's shoulder in comfort but was distracted by the sight of Yi coming back from the kitchen. Yuma wiped her eye and turned to smile at Yi. "Thanks Son. This is a very important lady and she wants to test you. You know I've always said you were special? Well this is where you prove it!" She smiled completely masking her previously shown worries. Yi's face turned from his generally confused look to a warm one much like his mother's. Jinora opened the wooden box in front of her as Yi poured out the tea. "Alright Yi, all we need you to do is see if you recognise any of these things we have in this box. Be honest, the outcome doesn't matter." She thought about spilling the boxes' contents out on the table but decided it would make sense if Yi went through the stuff himself. She slid the box across the table. Yi stared down into the box with a blank expression on his face. After a few moments he gingerly placed his hand inside the box and started pulling out various items. He picked a red scarf without much thought placed it on the table, followed by a few little wooden items that Jinora knew where ancient air nomad toys used by different avatars. Suddenly Yi's face went to almost concern when he retrieved something from the box. He picked up a photo and held before his gaze for a while in concentration.  
"I recognise him" Yi said in a matter-of-factly voice and held the photo out to Jinora. She took it off him as Yi went back to the box. Jinora couldn't help but to let a small smile out. The picture Yi had handed her was of Tonraq: Avatar Korra's father. There was very little chance of Yi recognising him from anything but his link to his previous life. "That's it I think" Yi said "Is that okay?" He sounded slightly worried like he had let her down. "Of course!" Jinora felt for the boy "You did so well!" Jinora turned to look at Yuma, but she could tell the mother understood. "We'll meet you at the outer ring tomorrow afternoon" Yuma looked sad again "I know where the Order building is" Yi looked more confused than normal but Jinora got the hint. "Okay I shall leave you two to it. Goodnight" She bowed and headed for the door. On the way back on Omaa she couldn't help but feel for the mother, Yi had long journeys ahead of him and it might be a long time before he got to see his mother again. It was late by the time Jinora got back and only Musi was still up waiting for her. She explained what had happened and bid him goodnight before she took to one of the guest rooms prepared for her and slipped off to her well deserved dreams.

* * *

Jinora dreamed of Yi that night. She dreamed of their meeting except she wasn't Jinora, she was Yuma. She watched as Yi left the walls of Ba Sing Se alone. At first she was proud, but then she changed her mind, she wanted her son back "Yi!" she called but he turn around "Yi!" she called, louder this time. She needed her son. "YIIIII!" She was screaming and shouting this time, tears welling in her eyes. Suddenly she wasn't Yuma at all; she was Jinora, but only ten years old, pushing through the people on the street that couldn't see her. It wasn't Yi anymore either; it was Korra, now marching into the sunset without her "KORRAAA!" She was too late this time Korra had nearly reached the horizon"KORRA PLEASE COME BACK..." She was gone. Jinora curled into a ball in the middle of the street, no one was noticing her and she closed her eyes.

Jinora opened her eyes and gasped. Master Musi was bent over her shaking her. "Jinora!" he was calling in excitement. He seemed in a very different mood than he was the previous night "We have so much stuff to do before they arrive!" He smiled.  
"Yeah yeah, give me ten minutes" Jinora waved her hand to signal him to go away.  
"Okay you have ten minutes!" He said sounding less than impressed.  
"Euurgh" Jinora sighed pulling the cover over her face.

Ten minutes later Jinora was up and ready sat back in the meeting room still rubbing her eyes. Many o f the other members of the order had turned up and she greeted them. Musi was once again sitting directly opposite to her, though this time looking a lot more positive. "We've done it! We've found the Avatar! All thanks to Master Jinora." Musi waved his arms at Jinora as the rest of the meeting silently celebrated. "The Avatar will be here soon to hand his training over to us. This morning I have been doing some reconnaissance on our new friend to see how we should progress. It turns out that Yi has been attending earth bending lessons since he was 6 and is the top of his class. I spoke to his teacher and he claims there's not much too still be taught. That is why I have decided that we should send him straight to the Fire Nation at once to learn his second element." Musi dropped the excitement for more solemn tones. " As I was saying in our last meeting, time is against us. Once again the balance is shifting in the world and it will not be long before the world needs its new Avatar. Master Jinora will you fly Yi to the Fire Nation?"  
"Of course Master Miso" Jinora bowed her head. "I will protect the boy until he reaches his next master."

* * *

"Omaa, yip yip!" Jinora called and her sky bison slowly climbed into the air. She sat with Yi as they both waved at the disappearing metropolis of Ba Sing Se below them. Jinora could just still see the outline of Yuma and Musi on the ground below. Yi's hand dropped to his side. "Are you okay?" Jinora asked. She found Yi's lack of facial emotions hard to read sometimes. He turned to look at her with a slight concerned look. "I guess everyone has to leave home some day".


	2. Chapter 2: Father and Daughter

**Chapter 2**

"Up now Yi" Jinora started poking Yi with the end of her staff "You are an avatar in training now". All she got was a grunt in reply. The journey across the earth kingdom hadn't been easy for him, even if they were mostly flying. Jinora had been brought up an air nomad and had been free to travel the world but she didn't suppose that Yi had ever gone too far from home, seemed it was much that way in Ba Sing Se. She had tried her best to bond with Yi over the past few days, but he seemed like such a gentle soul wrapped up in his own small world and really said much more than he had needed to. He hadn't taken well to sleeping in the wilds but hadn't complained. However she could tell the sleep deprivation was getting to him. Yi grunted again. Jinora looked around the clearing they had camped for the night. Omaa wasn't too far away still lazing on her side. They had made good time so far, so it seemed her sky bison deserved a rest. It was a perfect time to test him on his apparent bending skills.

"Come on Yi, I'm quite sure that you're soon-to-be fire bending master won't stand for this kind of thing. I'd hate to have to dunk you in that stream over there..." Apparently she sounded convincing enough as the very bleary eyed Yi emerged from his sleeping bag. The neat hair he sported in Ba Sing Se had disappeared days ago and he had bags under his eyes. "Morning Yi!" Jinora said with somewhat feigned excitement.  
"Morning Jinora" he croaked back.  
"I'm afraid the time has come for you to fight me!" She said with a smile. Yi went from bleary eyed to wide- eyed instantly. "Fight you? I can't do that, I..." Yi began to stutter.  
"You have to!" Jinora had been taught how to train different types of people as part of her father's trainings, one day she'd have to train her own kids, and she could tell that Yi had a problem. Supposedly he was an excellent earth bender technically but when he came to sparring he wasn't half as good. "I have been told that you have to pass the test before we leave here" Yi looked extremely worried. Jinora smiled, this was of course a complete fabrication but she knew what Yi needed as his first lesson. "I shall be back soon, you better be up" with that Jinora headed into the trees.

Jinora returned in much less than an hour clutching the head of a beautiful looking white and red lily. Yi was up and ready, looking more worried than he had done before. "It will be fine Yi!" Jinora comforted him "Just as long as you can take this from me without crushing it" She held her hand out showing Yi the flower. "Unless you want to head back to Ba Sing Se? It's a long way on foot..." Jinora was lying again, there is no way she would even be allowed to abandon the avatar in the middle of nowhere alone. Yi fell for it though. She smiled at the blank expressionless face that Yi gave and was completely unaware of what he was doing. He hadn't bothered to wait for her to say "go" and moved his left hand towards himself and the right one up. A fairly big rock knocked Jinora on her right leg causing her to lose her balance. She began to move to maintain her stance but the ground had already swallowed her left foot. Taken completely by surprise Jinora blew the lily up in the air so she could catch herself on the ground with her arms. She twisted around to easily break free from the weak grip the ground had got on her and went straight to a defensive stance compensating for a follow up attack. She levelled her eyes on Yi who had one arm reached out staring up into the air above her. Jinora looked up to see a thin slice of rock heading straight above her head but she didn't rush to defend her flower. The slice of rock caught the stalk and carried the lily along with it on its trajectory and embedded itself on a tree on the other end of the clearing. Jinora watched as a single petal fell of the flower head. Jinora turned back to look at Yi in as little awe as she could manage, once again he had that worried look on his face. "Was that cheating?" He asked "You weren't ready. And you could have stopped me catching the flower"  
"If you thought that I wasn't ready why did you start?" Jinora asked curiously.  
"I may be a nobody who never left Ba Sing Se but I can only assume that I'm not going to able to beat an air bending master...not in a straight forward sense anyway" Yi finished and Jinora glimpsed a rare sight of the tiniest smirk that was gone almost as soon as it arrived. "That was very wise of you. It hardly happened how I intended however you are right, you have passed. However you have not got off that easily. Defend yourself." With that Jinora released a heavy current of air straight at Yi.

* * *

"I'm bored!" Rina said loudly. Her father looked up from what he was writing and sighed.  
"You're always bored!" He replied with little sympathy "Go do something! You're fire bending needs some practise, go do it. We go through this every time". Rina pouted her lip.  
"There is more to life than fire bending training Dad!" She crossed her arms. It was fairly hard to get out of training when her father was also her fire bending master. Her father looked at her over the half moon spectacles he was using to read and sighed again before returning to his work. "I'm sure you are right, however you know the avatar has suddenly been found and The White Lotus has just decided to send him here. I'm not nearly prepared for this kind of thing! They should have given me ample warning, I mean who do they think they are?" Rina could see her father getting stressed.  
"It's the avatar, Dad. It'll be fine! You're a great teacher, just do the same thing as you normally do". Rina crossed the room and put her hand on her father's upper arm. "I'm going for a walk".  
"Okay" He smiled "Thanks Rina. Don't be gone too long okay?"  
"I won't" She said absent-mindedly and she half skipped towards her front door.

The sun was just setting over the Fire Nation capital, though the warmth of the late summer day hadn't quite left yet. Rina shoved her hands in her pockets and just started walking, her thoughts wondering. She really worried about her father; since her mother had passed away he had a tendency to overwork himself. Rina pondered a while on grief. She had never had much of a problem with it, of course the loss of her mother had changed her and she still had bouts of tears, but it just seemed to stop other people in their tracks. That was something she didn't understand, Rina knew for a fact that her mother would not want her to be sad. Rina's very last memory of her was in her deathbed asking her to do that exact thing. "Be brave Rina, my time in this world is almost up, but I will see you in the next and I shall look forward to it. Smile for me" Rina reminisced aloud. "I am Mum" Rina smiled and looked out to the horizon. The sun had almost set, orange light danced on the tranquil seas and bled upwards past the horizon to the deepening blue sky. Rina's peaceful expression flashed from confusion to excitement as she noticed the smallest shape expand far out to sea. "DAD!" She turned to run "DAD!"

* * *

Jinora smiled. The Fire Nation capital was a truly beautiful part of the world and the sunset just emphasized that. "Excited Yi? We're here!" Jinora turned from where she was sat at the front of her bison and looked for Yi. He was huddled up in the corner with his small bag and a worried expression on his face. "Just a bit anxious." He said just loud enough for Jinora to hear over the wind "I'm not sure if I have even met a fire bender before and now I'm to live with them..." Jinora chuckled.  
"It's not like they are any different to anyone else. Their culture is so elegant and beautiful! And they are so welcoming. I stayed here for a short while to learn, it was wonderful" She smiled once again. Yi managed to hold a smile for a second or two for her, but returned again to his anxiety. Yi had spent so much of his life sheltered in the most upper class and well respected part of Ba Sing Se and even though it had been many years since the war against the Fire Nation, Jinora guessed there probably weren't too many fire benders around.

As Omaa descended towards the crimson city Jinora turned her attention to the world beneath her. It had just occurred to her that she hadn't been given directions; she hoped that that meant someone would be waiting for them. Omaa slowed slightly and Jinora made the outline of two figures not far from them casting long shadows in the setting sun. Jinora guided Omaa to a convenient patch of grass below and drifted down closer to the figures. On closer inspection one seemed to be a middle aged man cloaked in traditional fire nation attire, the other a girl in casual wear that Jinora assumed to be a similar age to Yi. The man held a warm smile "Master Jinora I assume?" He bowed, subtly giving the girl a nudge until she bowed also. "I am Master Jang, and this is my daughter Rina. I have been requested to teach all I know to the new avatar" Jang cast his eyes over Jinora and Omaa as if looking for something "If he will take me".  
"YI!" Jinora called. "Come and meet your new teacher!" The three of them turned to look over at Omaa's back where Yi's face could be just seen over the edge of the saddle. He gracefully launched himself straight of Omaa's back and landed on two feet with a slight earth bending ripple. As he walked towards them Jinora held out her hand. "This is Master Jang and his daughter Rina". Yi managed of his strained smiles whilst Jang bowed and Rina returned a grin. "I have refreshments and guest rooms available ready at my villa, not far from here" Jang said kindly gesturing to a path behind him. "I am very thankful Master Jang, but I must be returning to Republic City" Jinora replied gratefully.  
"You're leaving already?" Yi looked at Jinora with disappointment.  
"I am afraid so.." Jinora felt bad for Yi, he didn't seem the most sociable person and she was abandoning him with people he didn't know. "I have to return to my father to further discuss your training. He is the greatest air bender in the world and he shall be your teacher and spiritual advisor" Jinora paused slightly before smiling. "Besides I know if I sit down now, I'll never want to leave. I do love this city" Jinora bowed to Jang and Rina. She turned to Yi.  
"Goodbye Master Jinora" Yi bowed, he was learning already.  
"Goodbye Avatar Yi, I shall be seeing you soon" she rested her hand on his shoulder before turning around and climbing Omaa. "Yip yip" She called as Jinora and her bison flew back unto the darkened horizon.

* * *

"Is he up yet?" Rina muttered as she stuck her head out of her bedroom door. Yi hadn't said much the night before and retired to the guest room earlier than Rina would have liked. Rina didn't really have many friends. Due to the effects her parents had on her she had turned out quite different to the girls at the fire nation school she attended, she got on with them but didn't really enjoy their company. Rina hoped that she had a new friend in Yi; her life had been dull of late and needed some excitement. "Argh" She threw herself down onto her bed and sighed. "He better hurry up, I'm bored."

Rina was lying there on her bed in thought for quite a while before she was pulled back to real world by the sound of someone quietly making their way down the hall outside her room. She stuck her head out of the door again to see the back of Yi as he headed away from his room. "Morning Yi" Rina realised she had said that a little too loud when she saw Yi jump a mile. "Oh hey" he replied still shaken. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Five minutes later Rina had raided her father's cupboards for suitable foods and was digging in. "So what do you want to do today?" She said with mouthful of mango. Yi just stared at the selection.  
"Umm...what am I suppose to be doing?" He asked carefully. Rina just shrugged and took another mouthful of fruit. "I guess I could give you a tour of the city" she said after a while. "I'm sure Dad doesn't want to start training straight away anyway".

"And this is where I like to go out for dinner" Rina said happily. She had been dragging Yi around for an hour or two by now, and she found his boredom difficult to gauge. He looked at many things with fairly blank expressions but every now and then a smile would creep in. "How different is it here?" She asked curiously. "Hmm..." Yi put his hand up to his chin. "It is hard to say really. I spent almost all my life in the Upper Tier of Ba Sing Se, and I have been told that it is fairly different to the rest of the Earth Kingdom. Looks fairly similar to where I lived, even if everything is much more red" This was the most talking Yi had done since she had met him. Rina grinned.  
"So you're posh then? Bet you had lots of servants. Bet your hair was all silly like this!" Rina started messing with Yi's hair.  
"Hey, get off!" he complained batting her arms away, giving Rina a confused look.  
"I'm only joking! Chill out" She poked him in the side. He managed a small smile before Rina pulled at his sleeve "Come on let me show you my school".

As the day wore on Rina seemed to notice Yi soften up a bit and get used to her, he even seemed to be enjoying himself slightly. It was late in the day by the time they started to head back home sharing a packet of fire gummies. Rina's laughter dropped at the sight of her father waiting out the front of their villa and a small, worried grimace took the place of her smile. Her father did not look pleased "Rina! Where have you been?" he said with a strained voice.  
"I was showing Yi around Dad!" Rina tried to defend herself  
"You know training was suppose to start today" He looked between the two of them and their fire gummies in turn.  
"My apologies Master Jang" Yi bowed. "It was my fault, I didn't realise we started today" Jang sighed. "Of course Avatar Yi, one should expect a tour of your new home. My Apologies also." Rina's father turned to head inside. "However we have much to discuss about your training, follow me." Rina's grimace in the meanwhile had turn to confusion as she turned to Yi. "Thanks!" She mouthed. She got one of his small smiles in reply as they both followed Rina's father inside.

* * *

Jinora was looking forward to getting home. She'd been travelling more than ever before of late and she missed her family. It was a big and noisy one, but it was also a close one. In the distance she spied the metallic twisted metropolis of Republic City glinting in the late afternoon. Luckily she didn't have to travel quite that far. Her family lived on Air Temple Island with many air acolytes, much less noisy and busy than the mainland of republic city. As she got closer republic cities watchful statues vastly grew in size. Avatar Korra and Avatar Aang stood in silent staring over the bay. Jinora exhaled, just slightly further was home.

"Mother!" Jinora's face split straight into a smile and she flew down of Omaa's back and hugged her mother.  
"Hey Sweetie, how were your travels?" Jinora's mother patted her on the back whilst wearing a mother's relief on her face.  
"Good Mum." Jinora looked around the courtyard her mother had been working in. Where are the others?"  
"Your father and Rohan are meditating, that's all they seem to do these days. Still I'm glad that he's found a child more at his own pace" She finished with a laugh that Jinora joined. "Ikki is somewhere but Meelo has gone to meet Bolin in town. He's been trying for ages to get air benders included in pro-bending." Jinora's mother just shook her head. "Any chance you could go find him? I know you have been travelling but I'm going to put dinner on soon. Would that be okay?"  
"Sure thing, won't take me long. Meelo is always easy to find!" Jinora replied. Omaa roared. "It's okay Omaa you rest and I'll take my glider." Omaa roared in thanks.  
"Thanks Jinora, see you soon" Her mother turned and headed inside as Jinora kicked open her glider and took off.

Jinora and Ikki were always sent to find Meelo, he was much more of a city-boy than the others and spent most of his time mingling with others as opposed to being more attached like her father had intended. Initially her father had been unhappy about it but Jinora reckoned he had given up trying to stop him by now. Like her mother said, he's much rather meditate. Jinora headed to Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, it was where Meelo and Bolin normally met up and was a sensible place to start.  
"Master Jinora" She was greeted as she came through the door. She went to open her mouth before she was interrupted "Meelo is through there." Jinora thanked the waiter and headed in the direction he was pointing. Jinora found it amusing, she was on first name terms with the staff though she couldn't even remember if she had eaten there. Jinora clapped her hand to her face. Meelo was huddled in the corner of the room in between four girls. All four of them were hanging on to his every word.  
" And that's when the sabre-toothed moose-lion attacked. Bolin was there lying on the ground still tied up" Bolin gestured to the table he was sat on "He couldn't move. It was so lucky that I arrived when I did 'cause the moose-lion was reared up like this" Meelo proceeded to do an impression of it. It's teeth were like as big my arm – yeah it was a big one – but then I shouted, I was like 'leave my buddy alone' and it turned to me and I saw the rage in its eyes, it was like nothing I'd ever seen-"  
Jinora had heard enough, she slowly approached the table and cleared her throat. Meelo looked surprised for a second before hiding behind a smug smile again. "Ah Jinora. I'm sorry ladies. I'm needed elsewhere." He stood up and ushered the girls out the way. "I'm afraid us air bending masters are in short supply." He put on a serious face "The world needs me" Meelo said slowly. Jinora snorted but as the five people turned to look at her, she managed to pass it off as a cough.  
"You're not an air bending master just yet Meelo" Jinora said with a small smile.  
"Aha...don't listen to my sister guys" He put on a fake laugh and flapped his hand.  
"What happened to you and Bolin? And the Sabre-toothed Moose-Lion?" All four girls where still firmly gripped by the tale Meelo was previously telling. "Next time ladies, I'm sorry" Meelo bowed and quickly excited with Jinora following at his heels. "Why do you always ruin my fun Jinora?!" Meelo muttered.

After Meelo and Jinora had returned the rest of the family had gathered and she spent a while greeting them all. Jinora's littlest brother, Rohan, looked older every time she saw him but then so did her father. As Jinora hugged her father she noticed that white streaks had crept into his already grey beard and he was skinner than she had remembered. The reunited family sat down as Jinora's mother brought in one of amazingly cooked meal. Jinora hadn't had a proper home cooked meal since Ba Sing Se and was looking forward to it. "So..." her father began "...anything new on your travels Jinora?"  
"Yes actually..." Jinora smiled "I found the avatar" The rest of her family looked on her in awe and celebration.

* * *

He stumbled. Avatar Korra's eyes glowed with unearthly light. A twisting spiral of wind whipped around and carried her towards the sky. Korra began to shoot fire from her limbs; the ground beneath him trembled with the avatars endless power. He was so scared; he just wanted to go home. He turned to run, but the Avatar wasn't letting him get away. He turned to look over his shoulder as a tidal wave came out of nowhere and headed straight for him. Closer and closer it got, the wall of water was so close to his face. Then he felt it.


	3. Chapter 3: Making Headway

**Chapter 3**

"This is too early" Rina thought. Since the avatar had arrived, her father seemed to be on his best behaviour. Instead of letting Rina sleep in longer than she should, her father was waking them both at the crack of dawn. It had been about half a week since Yi arrived and Rina's father was using her as a training partner when she wasn't in school so he could work them both as hard as they can. First he had started them on breathing exercises, which Rina had been doing for years, and Yi seemed to get them easy enough however he had still yet to manage to fire bend. It was still early days, but as always Rina was worried about her father: he would be the first person to blame himself.

Rina tied her hair up and pulled her boots on and stumbled out into the corridor. "Time to awaken Avatar Yi" she croaked in an aged voice. She gently knocked on his door and lacking a reply stuck her head round the door. At first she rolled her eyes at the still sleeping figure but she noticed him writhing around. Rina rushed to his side. The same thing had a couple of days ago and she had panicked and poured water on his face. It worked but Yi hadn't been too pleased to wake up with water all over him. Rina decided to skip the water and just shake him awake. "Yi wake up you're having another nightmare!" she said fairly loudly.  
"Whaaa-what? No stop it. Stop it! ARGH" Yi battered her away angrily but Rina just laughed. She dropped the smile and looked at Yi quizzically. "Bad dreams again?" She asked.  
"Yeah" he replied looking down and touching the back of his head.  
"Same one?" Rina tilted her head. Yi just nodded. "I wouldn't worry, everyone has nightmares. Meet you outside in five minutes, father's waiting for us and we're already late."

Shortly after Rina turned to see Yi scramble out the front door behind her, her father arrived. "Morning Dad!" She said brightly.  
"You know it's 'Master Jang' now we are in training" Her father replied calmly. As he turned to lead them to their training area she poked her tongue and her father's back.  
"We are going to continue where we left off yesterday, I'm going to give you both a leaf with a burning centre. The aim is to slow down the rate of the flames without letting them die." Master Jang handed a leaf to Rina then Yi. "This is to teach you the most important lesson in learning fire bending. Fire is not like the other elements; fire is alive and free and is not to be commanded. You have master using your body as a conduit for the energy before releasing it" With the final sentence Rina's father smoothly brought both of his hands forward in front of him and two small balls of fire shot out and lit both Rina's and Yi's leaf.

Rina stared at the leaf and smiled. This was so easy. It had been years since she mastered this simple task. She turned to look at Yi. He was staring at his leaf with the utmost concentration, his teeth were clenched and his eyes narrowed. Rina stifled back a laugh at the sight. She looked back at her leaf, the burning hadn't moved yet. "Easy" she thought. Rina looked up at her father who was watching them intently. He shot her one of his 'you're having too much fun' looks. Her face dropped and she turned back to her leaf, burying herself in her thoughts. Only a short while passed before she returned to reality as Yi whelped and dropped his leaf. Rina met his gaze sympathetically, but Yi looked away in what Rina thought was almost shame. "Don't worry Yi; it does take a while to get." Rina's father said softly "I think that was an improvement on yesterday! We'll try again later; I thought I could run through some bending forms. I understand that you are quite the earth bender so I'm sure that will fare better" Yi looked up hopefully at his master's smile.

* * *

Jinora opened her eyes. The soft sunlight of the morning fell through her window and warmed her face. She let out a sigh, a happy one; it was good to be home and well rested for once. Twenty minutes later she was washed and dressed and wondered out into the courtyard. "Morning Ikki" Jinora said as she greeted her sister. "Morning Sis" Ikki let out a massive grin.  
"How goes the training?" Jinora asked. Ikki would be going through the same rigorous process that Jinora had done not too long ago, the process that left her an air bending master. Such an official title meant her training was complete, that there was nothing else her father could teach her. Ikki was probably only half way through it and Jinora didn't envy her. Even though the pair of them had learned straight from their father, he had been very cold and serious about the whole thing. Jinora guessed it was because he wanted to make sure that every air bending tradition carried onwards without him. He had set strict goals over the course of the year and they were to pass every one or start from scratch. Jinora almost enjoyed it, and gave her a proper sense of completion to her master hood. "I wouldn't ask if I were you" Ikki replied before continuing with the physical exertion she had been doing before she had been interrupted "I think I've got most of the cool stuff, just all that spiritual mumbo-jumbo to go" Ikki grunted as she punched through air bending forms. Jinora shook her head. She wasn't going to pass their father's test saying things like that.

Jinora had come out into the courtyard to have a discussion with her father, and she spied him not to far from where she was, sitting on a bench watching Ikki carefully clutching his staff. Jinora drifted in his direction "Hey Dad"  
"Good morning Jinora" He said with a smile. "How are you this fine morning?"  
"Good to be home"  
"That's great to know" Tenzin turned his gaze back to Ikki. Jinora sat down beside her father.  
"How is Ikki doing?" Jinora asked who also turned to watch her sister.  
"She's having trouble with meditation techniques and she has a lack of interest in the spirits. Having said I do believe she has surpassed the both of us with her bending. She's definitely too fast for me, though I am getting on a bit." He chuckled. Jinora managed to smile but was very acutely aware of her father's deterioration. When she was smaller it never occurred to her how much older her father was than her mother but in her late teens it had become all too clear. At sixty six Jinora had realised that he was the same age as his father when he had passed. Fortunately his mother had been healthy up to the point she had died at eighty nine, something Jinora clung onto.

"I wanted to talk to you about Avatar Yi" Jinora explained. " I'm curious about him. When are you going to visit?"  
"I'm not" Tenzin replied and sighed.  
"What? How come?" Jinora turned to her father, worried.  
"Because Jinora, I'd like for you to be Avatar Yi's air-bending teacher and spiritual advisor. Jinora replied with an open mouth.  
"I know it seems like a big ask, but I would honoured for you to take my place. You kids have far surpassed me and my methods and I couldn't be a prouder father". Jinora's surprise met with a flash of anger. "Is this about Korra?" She asked. Tenzin closed his eyes and dropped his head and sighed.  
"Partially..." he let out to Jinora's annoyance. "...however far from absolutely. Jinora I'm getting old and it is no lie that you have surpassed me. You have spiritually in tune for fifteen years, and even in all my meditation I have never made it that far. You and your siblings have such life in you that I never found. My destiny was continue the air bending line and that is what I intend to do, I need to finish training Ikki, Meelo and Rohan, then I'm sure it will be passed retirement for me." Tenzin put his hand on Jinora's shoulder. "This is not about Korra, this is about you" Her father stared in Jinora's eyes and she could see he meant it. He turned his eyes front to Ikki once again, but this time she was taking advantage of the other two's deep discussion to have a small rest. "IKKI!" Tenzin shouted and Ikki soon started again. Jinora stood up and bowed. "Thank you father, I shall make you proud"  
"You already have Jinora" Her father replied.  
"I shall visit Yi and Master Jang to go over the details." She left to pack her bag and break the news to her family that she was leaving so soon.

* * *

Rina was impressed with Yi's physical prowess. The pair of them had spent most of the day practising their fire bending forms and Yi had completely caught up with Rina even though she had years on him. Her father who looked on still seemed fairly impressed as well. Rina supposed that it wasn't hard for Yi to translate much of his previous training. "Yi you're doing fantastic!"came a call from her father after a while. "I can see you were well trained by your last master. I'm afraid I have some things I need to take care of so carry on as you are. Rina make sure-" He stopped and shook his head "Yi make sure Rina doesn't stop" He smiled as the two trainees laughed and headed away from their training area.

Rina waited till her father was out of site before loosening up. "I'm bored" she said aloud. She watched Yi who was continuing with his forms, thrusting arms and legs in the air. "What do you want me to do about it?" He asked as he continued.  
"Fire bend" She said enthusiastically as Yi stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her.  
"But your dad said I wasn't ready" He said with a worried look. Rina brushed her hand in front of her. "Nah, he has to say that. I wouldn't worry, many people accidentally fire bend and that's how they know they can do it." She seemed to convince him.  
"Okay.." He said slowly and took a look around to see if anyone was watching before punching the air. Rina eagerly looked on and was disappointed to see no sign of any kind of flame. Yi also looked extremely disappointed. He stared down at his open palms. "Why can't I do it?" He asked to nobody in particular. Rina didn't know whether he wanted her to reply or not. After a pause Yi spoke again.  
"Rina...what if I'm not the Avatar?" He turned to Rina visibly upset for once. She took a few steps and hugged him. Rina could feel Yi's awkwardness so didn't hold on to him for long. She felt for him, there were so many people depending on the avatar and that pressure would get to anyone.  
"Thanks Rina" Yi said gratefully stopping to look at her. "I don't think I've ever had a friend before" he said averting his eyes slightly. Rina smiled happily albeit with slight embarrassment. It seemed to her that it must be difficult to get to fourteen without having a single friend but she didn't want to delve into it. Rina's face lit up suddenly "I have an idea! Why don't you earth bend, but like a fire bender? Just to practise."  
"I'm not sure that will work...fire is so different to earth" he said lost in thought. "Unless.." Yi bent down and picked up a large rock he had his eye on. He held it between two hands and crushed it to dust. "Whoa!" Rina exclaimed quietly, she hadn't seen too many earth benders before. Yi poured as much dust as he could in left hand as he could and threw it. Quickly with his right hand he let loose a fire bending punch catching most of the dust in the air and propelling it forward in a twisting cloud.

"Very resourceful of you Avatar Yi" Both of the students were still in awe at what had just happened and they both jumped at the voice behind them. Master Jang was stood watching not far from where Rina and Yi were. "It is surprising how much a teacher can learn watching what their student does when they think they're not looking" Yi looked slightly sheepish. "Anyway you both have come a long way today, so we'll call it quits. I'm really going this time, see you bright and early tomorrow morning Yi!" As Rina watched her father disappear again she grabbed Yi by the hand and pulled him towards the town "I have been planning tonight" she called enthusiastically marching off with Yi in tow.

* * *

"I cannot BELIEVE that you managed to convince Mum and Dad to make me take you!" Jinora said incredulously. After the sun had set the familiar temperature drop had made the two travellers and their bison to stop the night and set up camp. Jinora looked across the fire at Meelo who produced the smuggest grin imaginable. "I just gave them some spiel about how important I thought it was for you to teach me and how I'd like to visit the fire nation and embrace their way..." With the last few lines Meelo produced some over-the-top theatrics with a mocking look on his face. "Why?" Jinora was still confused by the whole thing. "Because Jinora, Mum is ALWAYS on my back and Air Temple Island is so boring! It's all meditation and being home in time for tea. Bolin is always telling me these stories-" Jinora sighed and interrupted him.  
"The world is rarely like Bolin's stories Meelo" Jinora stated with a matter-of-fact tone. "In reality it is quite boring compared to Bolin's stories. I've travelled around quite a bit and I would say that most of it _is_ all meditation and being home in time for tea."  
"You sound just like Dad!" Meelo retorted.  
"Hey, I never said that it is how I liked it! Sometime cool stuff happens."Jinora smiled with her little brother.  
"Like what?" Meelo asked hungry for another outrageous story. Jinora thought for a few moments to try and think up the most insane story she could manage. "Did I ever tell you about the time I saved a village from a platypus-bear and an armadillo-bear fighting over half a cabbage?" Meelo was instantly hooked and leaned towards her. Jinora tried really hard not to snigger. "Well..."

* * *

"What is this?" Yi asked looking at the sight before him.

"Do you not know what pro-bending is?!" Rina was shocked; she thought everyone knew about it these days, though from Yi's descriptions of home it did sound like a world away. Yi gave his trademark nervous look. "Well it is a sport for water, earth and fire benders. There are rounds where you have to knock the players back off the court. This is the local pro-bending club. Teams from around these parts even enter the championships in republic city sometimes...though they normally lose. The city teams are really good. Also we have an abundance of fire benders and not a huge amount of others." Yi looked confused. "Oh right yeah that's because it is one bender of each type on each team" Rina finished. "Let's just watch a few games then we'll have a go!"  
"Wait what?!" Yi exclaimed.

The two of them sat on the long the seats and watched games for a while. Rina had seen drawings of the big court in Republic City, and her local one wasn't that grand: the pitch was raised off ground level and there was a small amount of seating around the edges. Rina assumed Yi was enjoying himself, he seemed very occupied, he didn't even notice Rina inch closer to him on the seats. "Next up the Fire Lilly's!" The referee called from below on the platform.  
"Hey that's my team!" Rina jumped up.  
"Whoa you have a team!" Yi was impressed "Who's on it?"  
"Well you for a start!" she pulled him up and headed to the court. Another girl came from the other side of the seating wandered down. "Oh hey Rina didn't see you come in!" She said.  
"I told you I'd be here" Rina smiled. "Yi this is Kyra, Kyra this is Yi"  
"Hi Yi, I go to school with Rina" Kyra said "I've heard a lot about you, she talks about you a lot" Rina nudged her friend in the side. The referee walked over and handed them three battered helmets. "Let's do it" Rina said excitedly and made for the court.

Rina loved pro-bending. She found training boring and sparing too aggressive, but pro-bending was just right. She was quick and bored easy so the short rounds were perfect. Rina was pleasantly surprised to discover that Yi had grasped the premise and even though the game was friendly, it got quite competitive. Rina noticed that the way Yi used his earth bending was unlike what she had been taught they were like by her father he liked to chose his moment and hit hard and fast not unlike a fire bender. She was pretty sure this was why their team eventually won; the opposing team couldn't quite keep up their defence. The team handed in the helmets after the game and went to sit back down. Yi yawned. "That was so awesome!" He said with a smile. Rina could tell the day was getting to him, she supposed non-stop training was tough. "We better head back Yi has more training tomorrow and it's getting late" Rina said as she stood up "I'll see you at school tomorrow Kyra, same time next week?" The pair of them said farewell to Kyra and headed back into the night.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Meelo asked in a groaning voice. Jinora gritted her teeth.  
"You know it is almost like you haven't grown up at all!" She said angrily. It had been the fifth time he'd asked her in about an hour "Yes I think so! Now shhhhhhh!" Jinora had her eyes facing front staring into the distance but she didn't need to see her little brother to see that he was pulling a face behind her. "THERE IT IS!" Meelo shouted too close to Jinora's ear and she nearly fell off her sky bison. "For goodness' sake Meelo" He was right however, the morning light beat down on the crimson city slowly coming into view. Jinora wasted no time, and ushered Omaa to speed up. It wasn't long before the small party was landing in the same spot as last time, and both the air benders jumped out. This time Jinora had got directions to Master Jang's villa which was lucky since this time there was no-one there to meet them. "Hurry up Meelo!" She called behind her; she was excited to share the news with Yi.

After a short walk the pair of them arrived at Master Jang's villa. Luckily Meelo had spent most of the journey looking around at the scenery and not talking. The last time Meelo had been to the fire nation he had been small and probably didn't remember it that well. "Here it is" Jinora said.  
"Whoa, that is quite a villa.." Meelo exclaimed "Jang must be loaded!"  
"Meelo he's Master Jang to us, so don't be rude" Jinora shook her head; social etiquette was a step too far for Meelo. She was about to head to the front door until she heard Yi's voice not too far away. Jinora spied Yi and Jang not too far away in a training area. She walked over with Meelo waddling in tow. "Avatar Yi" she called. The boy looked up and smiled.  
"Master Jinora!" He bowed "Good to see you"  
"You too! I told you I'd be back." Jinora gestured to Meelo "This is my brother Meelo. I have some news, I have spoken to my father, Master Tenzin, and he has asked me for me to be your air bending master" She grinned.  
"Oh cool!" Yi grinned back. His eyes curiously wondered over to Meelo stood behind her. "Is your brother teaching me too?" Jinora turned to look at Meelo who had his finger shoved in his ear. She turned back to Yi "Definitely not."


	4. Chapter 4: The Predecessor

**Chapter 4**

Jinora screwed her face up. She could see the first flecks of the sunrise through her window and she had barely had any sleep. Jinora hadn't slept in the same room as Meelo since their family holidays together when they were both smaller. Since then he had developed a really awful case of snoring. She scowled at her opened mouthed sibling across the room in the twin bed, who was still blissfully unaware of the early hours of the morning. "There really is not point still trying to sleep." Jinora muttered angrily and she began wondering how long it had to be for her to ship her brother back home. She left her room, headed down the corridor and slipped out the front door as quietly as she could. There was warmth in the air already and Jinora basked in the rising sun before heading towards the still empty town.

Jinora didn't get very far however, in the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Yi in the training area. "You're up early avatar." She called. Yi was in the middle of practising forms and jumped slightly. "Yeah, um... I have been having some trouble lately." He seemed quite disappointed at this.  
"Anything you want to talk about?" Jinora asked as nicely as she could.  
"Just nightmares." Yi replied, avoiding her gaze.  
"I wouldn't be too worried Yi, everyone has nightmares and your life has been shaken up slightly as of late." Jinora paused. "Come and take a walk with me, I'm sure you deserve a break." She gestured to the path she was heading for previously. Yi held still for a moment then walked towards Jinora and they both headed off into town.

"How goes the training Avatar?" Jinora asked curiously as the pair of the walked.  
"Not great." Yi said glumly with his hands in his pockets.  
"Hard work?" She guessed.  
"It's not that... I, err..can't fire bend" he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the path ahead. Jinora was cast deep into thought at his remark "I'm trying really hard..." Yi justified to the silence.  
"Oh I'm sure you are!" This jumped Jinora back from her thoughts. "Many Avatars have had issues with different elements in the past Yi, it is almost expected. I can just about remember when your processor, Avatar Korra, had problems with her air bending. She had mastered all the other elements but the ways of air bending were just too different to her personality for her to easily get it. Of course she mastered it in the end with a little help from her past life."  
"So my problem is spiritual one? Does that mean you can help me?" Yi asked as his hopeful eyes turned towards her. Jinora stopped walking at put her arm on Yi's shoulder. "Of course I can, it's my job after all! You go pack a bag; I'll talk to Master Jang."

* * *

"Yi?" Rina poked her head round the kitchen door. For once she had woken before her father had had to wake her up. Rina was on her way to wake Yi up like she did most days but was puzzled to find his bed empty. She was wondering if Yi had had another nightmare when she was attracted to a noise in the kitchen. In the kitchen she was surprised to find Jinora's brother rooting through the cupboards. "Meelo isn't it?" The air nomad jumped a mile. "I'm Rina." She had said it quite loud. Meelo reformed from his surprise to his much more common casual stance with his hand ruffling through his shaggy dark hair. "Oh hey, yeah, umm...I was just looking for my sister and err..." He trailed off as he gestured to the rest of the kitchen feebly with his hand. "So you were looking in the cupboards for her?" Rina asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"There's actually a really good reason why I was in the cupboards!" Meelo explained over-dramatically.  
"Okay hit me with it!" Rina leaned against the door frame with an expectant look on her face. All she got in return was a scowl. "It's air bending stuff!" Meelo turned to leave.  
"Where are you going?" She asked innocently.  
"I am going to find Jinora!" Meelo mumbled in a annoyed tone.  
"Okay, I'll come too! She's probably with Yi." Rina said happily as she followed Meelo out of the house.

Meelo walked all the way into town without even acknowledging Rina, while she was following several steps behind. She was honestly interested in where Meelo was going. As far as she understood the situation, he didn't know where he was going and although he was older than her, he didn't seem wise enough to guess. "Where are you going?" She repeated playfully.  
"I told you already!" The annoyance on his face had crossed over to his voice.  
"Yeah. But where are you _going_?"  
"Right." Meelo stopped and twisted on the spot to face Rina, and looked at her in the eyes.  
"I can see you're persistent so I can tell that you're not about to back down. So then a deal?"  
"What kind of deal?" Rina was extremely intrigued.  
"I am not going to lie. I have a plan and another pair of hands would not go amiss. So the deal is: You can come with me _but _you have to follow my lead at all times or.." Meelo trailed off.  
"Or what?!" Rina was hanging on to his every word. He just smiled and carried on in the direction he had been walking in. Rina bounded after him.

* * *

"Yi this is Crescent Island." Jinora had stated climbing up the stairs to the fire nation temple. Jinora had been mentally planning Yi's journey of spiritual growth since her father had given her the task. She had memorised spiritual hotspots all over the world and after her and the avatars conversation earlier Jinora had decided that this was the first step. It had taken the best part of the day to get to the fire nation outskirts but Jinora suspected it to be worth it. The pair of travellers ascended towards the tower glowing extra crimson in the light of the dying day.

"You've been here many times before." Jinora continued talking in reply to Yi's blank expression. "This was a very important part of my grandfather, Avatar Aang's, story. While the hundred year war still raged his predecessor, Avatar Roku, contacted him and gave him guidance." Jinora and Yi had made it to the entrance of the temple. The temple's sages had been warned of their arrival and where waiting for them. Jinora greeted them politely and the pair where silently led to one of the highest halls. Jinora had never entered the temple, though she had read about it, especially the room they were heading to. "The room we have travelled to see is locked and can only be opened by five fire benders." As Jinora quietly explained to Yi the sages set themselves up equidistantly around the door and in synchronicity all produced a tunnel of flame into the door. Jinora thought she saw an impressed flicker cross Yi's face but it was hard to tell. The heavy doors swung open and Jinora thanked the sages s they entered. Yi looked worried as the door shut behind him.

The room was just how Jinora had imagined it. She was calmed by the silence and the soft light. Jinora felt a wealth of spiritual energy from the single statue that stood by the far wall. She looked to her side, Yi looked quite unsure still. "How do you feel?" She asked, her eyes fixated on him.  
"Umm I don't know? Weird maybe, though it's hard to tell since I have no idea how I should feel." Yi responded. Jinora smiled "That's okay, I didn't expect for it to be that easy. I want you to sit cross legged in front of this statue, close your eyes and breathe deep...and listen." Jinora copied Yi and sat cross legged beside him. "Now I doubt that the spiritual difficulties you face are your fault. I'm going to tell you about the last chapter in Avatar Korra's story."

"Many people of Republic City remember the calamity of that day. A giant spirit appeared and destroyed much of the city; however few know the truth of it...but I was there. A very twisted man tricked Korra into letting lose an old and dark spirit. The power of this spirit was enough to rival the powers of the Avatar itself. There is a part of you that remains constant; a part of you that is reborn and you will come to understand it in time. Korra's adversary found a way of taking it away from her, leaving her almost powerless. However Korra was a great fighter and managed to save us all from the threat but with significant damages, the part of you that is linked with your past lives was greatly damaged and of course the experience cost Korra her life. That is one of the reasons that we were so glad that we found you, some people were afraid that the line of the avatar was so damaged that you would not be reborn at all. So I don't expect for you to recognise this statue of the great Avatar Roku, you have lost the link to his life, however I still believe that you are connected to Korra still, and if you contact her she could explain better than I ever could."

Jinora finished talking and let silence fill the room once more. She stared at Roku's static, expressionless face for a while wondering if the past avatars were gone or just lost. Maybe they were looking for Yi even know. Of course that didn't seem possible, but Jinora wasn't ignorant enough to assume that she knew everything about the avatar. When she turned to Yi she had expected to see his normal blank expressionless face, but instead she was greeted with a face that was screwed up in concentration. Jinora was almost about to ask him if he was okay but decided to leave him in this state, something was obviously working.

"I can't describe it, it's like there is something just lurking around the corner of my mind." Yi explained, he was getting visibly distressed. Jinora wasn't sure how much time had passed while they were in the temple, but eventually Yi had eventually spoken up and broken the silence. "I think I can remember the battle for Republic City, I don't know... something you said triggered something in my memory." Yi stared up looking the still Roku in the eye. "This helped but I don't think it is working!" he exclaimed with poorly hidden desperation. Jinora contemplated his feelings on the matter; she did have a back-up plan. "Okay Avatar, there is a plan B..." Jinora turned to look at the desperate face of Yi beside her. "...but it is no small task, I need to know you are ready for the next step." Jinora saw the fierce look of determination on Yi's and didn't need his answer. "What do I have to do?"

* * *

"...Or something like this will happen!" Meelo shouted through the bars of the city jail.  
"Don't you dare try and blame this on me!" Rina shouted back from the opposite cell. She was angry and scared, but it would be a lie to say that she hadn't enjoyed the day's events. Having said that, she was absolutely dreading the fact that her dad could walk around the corner any second more furious than he'd ever been before. "Follow your lead you said!" Rina continued. "What lead? If anything you were following my lead!"  
"See this was the problem! You were trying to lead when I was trying to lead and I wanted to lead first!" Meelo groaned. "Jinora's gunna kill me!"  
"Oh you think YOU'RE in trouble?!" Rina asked incredulously. "My father is going to ground me for-like-ever! My life is ruined! You get to go home after this! It was your fault anyway! You only went and dropped the teapot, it was an antique! We were doing fine before that!"  
"Oh yeah?! So the otter-fish falling out from under your hat into the Mayor's Ocean Kumquat had nothing to do with it?!" Meelo finished with a sigh locking eyes with Rina. The pair of them fell into silence for a few seconds before bursting into hysterics.

Maybe it was the sheer desperation their situation had got them into, or maybe it was just that funny but Rina could stop laughing for several minutes. She ran out of breath finally and couldn't handle any more. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked over to Meelo's cell opposite. Instead of seeing her new partner in crime, a silhouette of a man blocked her view. "Rina." Her dad said loudly. "Dad, I-I-I..." Rina started feebly before being cut off by him.  
"Rina you are grounded..." He paused with an apparent lack of words. "For-like-ever!"

* * *

"Where are we going Jinora?" Yi asked. They had finally got out of the crimson temple and were already high above the clouds, Omaa surfing through the refreshing evening northward bound. "We are going to the spirit world" Jinora watched as panic made it into Yi's expression.  
"What...but...I mean...Why?" Yi managed to get the sentence in the end.  
"There is a special place that might possibly be the most spiritual place between our two worlds. It is called The Tree of Time." Jinora paused before continuing. "Get some sleep Yi, this time we're travelling through the night."

As they got further and further north the temperature dropped dramatically. Jinora put most of the packed blankets and layers on Yi; he needed a good night's sleep. Unfortunately that meant that Jinora didn't sleep due to the subzero temperatures. Mercifully the sun finally made it back to the sky and its rays bounced of the icy plains in front of them forming an almost blinding glittering sea. Thanks to Avatar Korra their destination was clearly marked, they were heading for the spirit portal; a wide column of light reaching high up into the sky. Jinora shivered and she focused on the light warming her face. She turned as she heard the shuffling of Yi stirring from his peaceful journey. "Are we there yet?" Yi asked curiously as he rubbed his eyes. He got up from his sleeping position to peer over the side of the sky bison. "Whoa!" He face lit up at the sight before him. Jinora was surprised at his sudden outburst, but she always forgot that he had lived a sheltered Ba Sing Se-ian life; it was likely that he had never seen snow before. "Close!" Jinora said with excitement as she pointed to the pillar of light in the distance.

"You ready Yi?! Grab on to something!" Jinora exclaimed, she didn't really mean for it to come out serious but Yi frantically grabbed his stuff and hung on to the side of the saddle. Jinora watched as the light rushed towards them, then hit them, but then they had passed it and were out the other side. Jinora, Yi and Omaa were flying over a large circular arena like area; the opposite side of it was another column of light, and in between it and them was what they sought. Jinora rested her eyes on the biggest tree she had ever seen; it was hollow with a great eye shape on one of the sides. It had been years since she had been here. She shot Yi a look to say "This is it" which he seemed to receive.

The travellers descended from Omaa, Jinora much more elegantly than Yi, not too far from the tree. Yi didn't say anything but Jinora could feel the awe radiating of him. "This tree is ancient, it is said that its roots bind together the physical world and the spirit world. This tree will show you your past, if this does not connect you to your past life, I fear nothing will." With this Jinora flicked the end of her staff into Yi's back, ushering him forward to the climb to get inside. He reluctantly began his journey to the centre of the tree with Jinora trotting a few steps behind. She was kind of excited but anxious, she knew that this was make-or-break for Yi, though she was pretty sure by this time tomorrow he would be a fire bender. As she watched Yi's head bob up and down silently in front of her she was suddenly aware of her major role in Yi's story, and she had a sense of pride. Maybe after Yi's time, someone one would tell the story of today's events, Master Jinora and Avatar Yi. Sometimes it seemed she was a little girl five minutes ago, and now she was a master. Jinora shook her head; she needed to stop thinking about unimportant things at this vital point in time.

Jinora's musings had lasted her to the top of the path where the two of them were presented with the small room at the centre of the tree. It wasn't as clean as it had been last time she had been here, there seemed to be stones and random items that people had left. The spirit world had been open to anyone since the fall of Korra, and over the years she assumed that the tree had had many visitors. Jinora watched as Yi sat in the centre of the hollow tree facing her in a way that he had done previously in the temple. She watched the concentration on his face rise as her excitement did. Jinora held her breath, several minutes went by. Yi's face twitched, almost like he was in pain, then went blank.

Yi opened his eyes and Jinora was not met with the pure light of the avatar state, but a corrupted fiery-red burning and his face was twisted with rage. Jinora's stomach plummeted, her mouth went dry and she tried to shout "No!" but no sound escaped her.


	5. Chapter 5: Escape from Ba Sing Se

**Chapter 5**

****_Three weeks earlier_

"What have you done now Shin?" Dawa whispered from the corner of her mouth in a strained voice. The pair of street urchins had once again been cornered in an alley by a load of bigger kids. Dawa's eyes flicked between the four, no five targets surrounding them. She looked over to Shin; he looked very much like he had swallowed rabbit-monkey. Unlike her friend, Dawa wasn't too worried, she had enough faith that she could at least fight enough of them off to escape; the question was whether Shin could handle himself. Shin's water bending abilities were better than most, but she couldn't see the element he needed in the close proximity. "That's the problem!" Dawa thought to herself angrily. Shin's mouth was much too big, he was the first to mouth off but when it came down to it he was always running to her when people were after him.

"You don't want to know..." Shin whispered in a quavering voice as the pair drew closer together, back-to-back. By now they knew the drill, life in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se was rough and for young, weak looking orphans like Dawa and Shin this was almost a weekly occurrence. "We don't have time for this Shin! We need to get to that match or we'll be scavenging for another week" Dawa muttered raising her arms as their opposition slowly came closer. All she got in reply was a nervous gulp and she rolled her eyes. "NOW!" She shouted slamming her bare foot down into the earth. The bullies liked to pick on poor weak orphans, but Dawa had learned and although she looked like one, the bullies were normally conscious long enough to see their mistake. She brought her palms into the air raising two square columns of rock from the floor of the alley into two of attacker's chests. Dawa barely saw the reaction in their faces before, with a moderate thud; they were hurled back a few feet onto the ground where they stayed groaning. They had not hit the ground before Dawa was onto the next target; she plunged her hand in the ground and bent a small boulder out of it. Spinning round to find more targets she released the rock and he sailed straight passed Shin's still stationary head and flew straight into another attacker. The two remaining bullies stared incredulously and Shin took a chance and punched the one to left. He barely saw the punch connect before he was off, flying round the corner on to the busy street. Dawa smirked at the last guy standing as fear flashed across his face, before bolting in the same direction as her friend.

As Dawa sped around the corner she barely caught the sight of Shin's fleeing figure melting into the bustling street before she could follow it. She had grown up here in Ba Sing Se, and making her way through crowds of people fast was a pretty crucial skill she had developed. Dawa was still struggling to follow Shin as she bobbed and weaved through the disgruntled pedestrians. Although they were a similar age, Shin was near a foot taller than her, and it showed when it came down to pure speed. Very soon Dawa lost sight of her friend. She slowed down and finally turned to look back the way she'd come. All she saw where the same zombified faces of the local, with no sign of the others. Dawa had hardly expected for them to give chase after the outcome of their short brawl, but those types of people where usually in gangs and knew a lot of people and could easily outnumber them.

Dawa picked up the speed again and found herself in a small clearing between people where Shin was picking himself of the floor. She smiled at the sight; he could be pretty clumsy sometimes. He was engaging in a conversation with a young woman who seemed very alien compared to her surroundings. Instead of the usual natural green and brown coloured clothing of the lower ring, she had loose red and orange robes and seemed to be clutching a tall staff. Dawa was intrigued by the blue tattoo on her forehead that disappeared into her hair line. She turned her attention back to her friend. "Come on Shin, we are going to be late! They'll start without us!" She tugged at his clothes. He seemed to regain his previous desire to get where he was going in a hurry as he took off again. Dawa turned to the woman and gave one last curious look. "Sorry Miss, gotta run." She smiled before yet again trying to follow Shin through the crowds. This time Shin hadn't gone far before slowing to let Dawa catch up. He greeted her with an uneasy smile that said "Sorry about that!" She just cast the look aside and started looking around for landmarks. "Thank goodness, we're close!" She said with a sigh. "Come on Shin." She grabbed him by the sleeve and led him off round the corner.

The pair made their way through steadily quieter streets as they headed to places further away from the main heart of the lower ring. As Dawa saw the inconspicuous gate between two buildings in front of her she prayed it wasn't too late. She looked around and ushered Shin through when she was sure no one was looking before following him and closing the gate. They sighed, it hadn't started yet. Dawa and Shin were in a large courtyard full of teenagers of all ages, they had arrived at the lower rings street-bending tournament. It had taken them ages to save up enough money to enter this risky enterprise, but Dawa was sure they could make more money back of it if they won. Dawa saw a boy turn to see them enter the courtyard. He ran over with a very relieved look on his face. "Hey Kumoh..." Dawa still had difficulty breathing after their long journey across the city.  
"Where have you guys been?!" He said angrily in an alternating deep and squeaky voice. Kumoh's voice was in the process of dropping and was the butt of many jokes around town. Dawa just shook her head. "I don't even know, ask Shin!" Dawa and Kumoh both turned to Shin, who gave one of his awkward smiles and pulled out a small jangling pouch from his pocket. Dawa's mouth fell open slightly and she shook her head. "You shouldn't take risks like that!" She said slightly incredulously, slightly impressed. "I ain't 'fraid of them guys!" Shin shrugged her off smugly.  
"It's not them I'm worried about! What if a guard saw you? Orphans like us might not ever get out of kid prison if we ended up there." There was still a small smile on her face but there was still a very serious tone in her voice. Shin's smugness drooped somewhat as he put his spoils back in his pocket. She knew he knew she was right.

The three of them looked up as an older teen called from the street bending pitch. Dawa's ears pricked up at "The Shadow Rats." Dawa smirked; she liked the sound of her team name. Many other teams had gone for more impressive sounding names but she thought that it matched her team, not very impressive sounding but they were a lot better than they looked. "Right, you guys know the strategy, stick behind me and dive out when you have an opening." The boys were fairly happy with this, it was quite obvious that Dawa was better than them and the plan seemed to work most of the time. As the three of them sauntered over they began psyching themselves up, they needed to be ready for this. Street bending could get pretty dangerous, the whole system barely hung off a small amount of rules, very unlike its sibling in the west. Dawa eyed up their team's opposition. Two of them seemed quite confident and competent, being probably bigger than her, the other however seemed quite young still. "Go for the weakest link." Dawa muttered to the boys behind her. Both of the seemed to get the message as the three of them limbered up ready for the match.

The older teenager refereeing the match put his hand to his mouth and whistled. Dawa immediately pulled two large rock shields from the ground, one in each hand, and stood fast in her defensive position. Kumoh wasted no time in launching bolts of fire from behind her towards the enemy team. Unfortunately they were all dodged with ease, but this gave Dawa's team precious few seconds to let loose another wave of attacks. This time the opposing team stood fast and countered. Dawa caught a large fire stream on her left shield quickly followed by an icicle on her right. It hadn't taken them to work out they need to take her out first. She took an opening and hurled one of her shields at the smaller enemy. It flew towards him at such a speed, but he merely flicked it aside as it flew out of the game narrowly missing some excited spectators. "I guess he isn't the weakest link..." Dawa said quietly, the words barely audible amongst the game; she thought she knew better than to make assumptions about new opponents. She had left herself open and the enemy water bender took advantage of that as he emptied a nearby bucket and went to hit her with it. She was ready to block but Shin backed her up and with a spin, redirected the water back. Luckily it had caught the enemy of guard and he was thrown back a zone. Dawa had a small window to pick another shield up before the enemy earth bender tried to break her defence. He was better than Dawa had anticipated but it was still not enough to drive her back. They enemies were so mesmerised by Dawa's display they were not prepared for a Shin's stream of water heading for their faces. This caught the remaining two in the first zone out, and pushed them back to join their teammate. The Shadow Rats ran forward eager to push the others back further, but only a few more quick attacks were deflected before the referee called for the end of the round.

Dawa dropped her rocks. Other benders briefly tended to the pitch, the water benders filled the buckets back up and the earth benders tried their best to flatten the pitch again. Dawa turned to her team and smiled. "Good work Dawa!" Kumoh exclaimed giving her a thumbs up.  
"You too." Dawa finished before getting back into battle formation as the next round begun. A soon as the whistle Dawa resumed her strategy. However this time the enemy time was wary and immediately went for her before she got her defence up. Dawa half expected this and saw the attacks coming quick enough to roll, picking up her left shield as she went. She took a few moments crouching behind her shield as the enemy attacks continued. Kumoh and Shin quickly backed her up by going on the offensive causing the enemies to have to defend long enough for Dawa to get back on her feet and pick up another shield. She was ready and waiting for the next attack but the enemy team saw an opening and went for Kumoh. Their water bender threw water over to him, and for a moment Dawa thought he had completely missed, but understood as the water froze. Kumoh panicked but managed to stay on his feet long enough to get hit by rock flung at him. Dawa winced as it caught him in the chest and threw him back two zones. For a second she began to fear defeat, even if Shin shared his recent spoils it would be a hungry week for the trio. The attacks continued hard and fast on Dawa. She was able to block most of them but wasn't allowed time to retaliate. With Kumoh pushed back, she was having trouble, and tiring easy. Dawa was pretty sure the round was almost over when Shin took a chance. Once again he jumped passed her with a large stream of water headed for the enemy team. She watched the stream of water with desperation, willing it to go harder and faster, she didn't want to go hungry for another week. She felt the water, and in the moment dropped her rocks and pushed it with her hands. The water shot across the pitch and drenched all three of the opposing team causing them to fly straight out of the pitch.

Shin's arms flew up in the air as he turned to his team completely speechless. Kumoh punched the air and let out an "Alright!" as the referee blew a whistle signalling the end of the game. Dawa looked and her celebrating friends and the small cheering crowd in bewilderment. She saw an unusual shadow fall on the floor and looked towards it source, the weird woman from earlier smiled at her from on top of a nearby building. Kumoh and Shin descended on her, dragging her into a group hug and she couldn't help but smile. The risk had paid off, and they had won.

* * *

It had been several hours since the end of the match. The Shadow Rats had gone for a small celebratory meal with their winnings, and it had been a while since any of them had eaten that well. Dawa did her best to laugh and smile with the others but there was a very weird nagging in the back of her head that she couldn't quite shake off. After the meal she made up an excuse to leave and went on a walk to ponder on the closing seconds of the game. She wanted to think that she was making a big deal out of the whole thing, she wanted to be wrong...but she knew something had happened. It was impossible, but she had water bended. "It was impossible though?" she thought, her feet slowly carrying her through the town in a nameless direction. It was impossible because she was already an earth bender, and she couldn't be both and she was _definitely _an earth bender. "Maybe one of my parents was an earth bender and the other was a water bender?" She thought. Dawa had never known her parents; she had just grown up in a rough orphanage in the lower ring. It seemed like an appropriate solution, though it was still impossible. If it was, she'd have heard about it, more people would be able to bend two elements. Dawa shook her troubled head brushed the thoughts away, she was over thinking it, and she wasn't a water bender.

Her feet kept walking and Dawa kept thinking. Before she realised, she had walked miles and the sun was going down. Her eyes adjusted to reality to see the reflection of the warm pink and orange sun in the large black placid expanse of Lake Laogai. It suddenly occurred to her how far she had come that afternoon. Dawa cursed under her breath, she was never going to get back to the orphanage before her curfew now. She sighed; it would be fine she was always staying out all night. It wasn't always her fault but the orphanage workers were used to it, not that they approved of it of course. Dawa kicked a pebble by her foot as she began towards the lake. As she descended towards the lake she noticed the lack of people around, they were all heading home. Many people held superstitious beliefs about Lake Laogai. Dawa didn't know why, maybe just the way it looked but she didn't care about superstition. Dawa found herself a comfy looking rock to sit on and watched the colourful sun disappear behind the walls of Ba Sing Se. Her thoughts turned to the world outside. She didn't know what it was like, children weren't allowed to easily come and go through the walls without permission and the orphanage wouldn't let her out in a million years. Dawa hugged her knees; she could feel the temperature dropping. A small breeze caught her on the side and she could see it rippling the surface of the black lake. This brought her thoughts back to earlier. She looked around to see if anyone was joining her in the dying light. Seeing no one, Dawa got off her seat and headed towards the lake front.

Dawa stopped a few feet from the almost still water. Her right hand reached out in front of her and she looked between it and the water with an unsure look. She had an idea and reached out with her mind to a nearby rock. As she stared at it and twitched her fingers, the rock slowly rose up to landed in her face down palm. Dawa threw it back down again and held her hand, palm down to the water. If she could just replicate what she was doing with the rock, maybe she could water bend. Her face twisted in concentration as she moved her fingers around above the water. She had seen Shin water bend countless times and tried to remember what she had seen him do. She felt herself close her eyes as she tried to calm her mind. She barely remembered trying to earth bend; it had come naturally to her ever since she was tiny. The people at the orphanage had even tried to get her to stop; she had been told she made quite a mess when she had tantrums. Dawa opened her eyes, half expecting the water to be moving beneath her hand. She was slightly disappointed when it wasn't. "Maybe I'm not special" She answered quietly to the night almost relieved. She turned to go and waved as if to gesture her silly thoughts to leave when the water splashed. She put her hand to her face and touched the water droplets and looked at them on her fingers in the last flecks of sunlight.

* * *

Dawa spent most of her time at Lake Laogai that night; she didn't make it back to her orphanage till the early hours of the morning. She had become a master of sneaking in and managed to get to bed without waking anyone else up. The little sleep she got was spent dreaming about the sea, she had left Ba Sing Se and was sailing around the world in her own ship. Her unconscious freedom was interrupted by an awful presence. As daylight danced on her eyelids, she opened her eyes to see another pair staring straight back at her. Dawa jumped. "What do you want Chow?" She moaned. Chow was the owner of the orphanage and she really despised him.  
"That's Master Chow to you!" He said in his squeaking aged voice. Dawa got out the other side of her bed.  
"I'll call you master when you start teaching me something." She replied without looking at him. Chow seemed to hate all the kids, Dawa always thought that the Palace must pay him greatly to keep them off the street. "Out all night again? That was the last straw!" Chow gave her an evil smile and she could see all of his missing teeth. Dawa was about open her mouth until what he said registered in her head. "Oh yeah?" She quizzed.  
"I got permission to send you off to the northern air temple!" He said with glee. "You're to become a monk."  
"You can't do that, I live here!" She responded, starting to worry.  
"Not anymore!" He started to laugh and turned to leave. "The monks will be here in ten minutes." Chow sniggered as he slid off. Dawa kept the disgusted look on her face and her mind raced. "Could he do that?" She thought. She didn't want to be a monk, "Don't they have to shave their head?" she thought. That was definitely not going to happen.

Dawa sat and pondered for a while completely in two minds. She had never really thought of leaving for good, she had previously guessed that the world was not open to her as a penniless orphan. On one hand, like she had stated, Ba Sing Se was her home and maybe she liked it here. At the very least it was where she felt she belonged, she knew The Lower Ring and she was good and living there. Dawa thought of Shin, and briefly Kumoh and all her other friends. She would probably miss them, certainly Shin, but then her mind flickered to all the people she had to know and how many more of them there were. She would not miss the gangs, the fighting for her food and she would definitely not miss Chow and his back alley orphanage. Dawa gazed through the small window situated in her shared sleeping quarters. She could just about see the outer wall from here, though not what was beyond it. What was beyond it? She had made up her mind.

Hurriedly Dawa ran round her small bed packing her least destroyed clothes and the small box of the minimal amount of possessions she owned and put them in her old, old bag. She threw open her sleeping quarters door and flew into the corridor. She just hoped Shin was still around. Dawa rapped her knuckles on Shin's sleeping quarter's door. He shared quarters with Kumoh and several other boys down the other end of the hall. Without waiting for much of reply she opened the door as slow as she could, which in retrospect wasn't. It flew open and Dawa's eyes flew around the room looking for her friend, but she was only greeted by the fact that she was the only one still around in the room. Her face fell and she slowly made her way to Shin's bed and sat down. It wasn't too often, but now was one of the times she wished she could read and write, all Dawa wanted was to convey some kind of goodbye to her friend. He was a bit useless at times, if not more than that, but ever since she had remembered they had stuck together, he was as much family as she had ever had. A small tear crept into the corner of her eye before she stiffened and mentally shook herself. Dawa reached into her old bag and pulled out her small wooden box. The lid opened to what revealed to be random stuff, all of no value, but each item was a memory to Dawa and was important. Obviously she had kept the box fairly secret, if many of the other children had seen it she was sure it would have been stolen, but Shin had known of it. Her fingers hovered over an almost luminous, translucent green crystal. She remembered seven or eight years ago Shin and her had found it in one of the surrounding fields and fought over it. Dawa remembered shamefully falling out with him because he hadn't let her keep it, but a few days later Shin had awkwardly offered it back to her and to Dawa's relief they had both become friends again. She couldn't write to him but Dawa hoped that her actions would speak as loudly for her. She smiled sadly as she tucked the stone under his pillow where he would find it and left for the front door.

As she exited the orphanage she was greeted by a small crowd. Chow looked at her with a pleased look, and behind him stood a group of orange-clad bold monks of all shapes and sizes seeming appropriately disgruntled by the poverty and noise of her not-long-to-be back alley home. As one of the monks moved towards her, she noticed that behind the mass of orange was a queue of more scruffy kids, and rough and unshaved looking adults. Dawa didn't recognize any of all their faces though she was not surprised; The Lower Ring was a big place. The monk that moved to her spoke and Dawa was slightly surprised to hear a female voice. "You must be Dawa," She bowed a little "it is an old air nomad name." She smiled comfortingly. Dawa was taken completely aghast, she was never treated with this much respect. The lady continued "Master Chow tells me that you wish to join us in peace and tranquillity in the Northern Air Temple and learn our ways."  
"I...I.." Dawa stuttered. The time had come to choose. She looked over at Chow and read his look easily: it said "Say yes or I will make you regret it."  
"I would be honoured." Dawa managed to get out, before taking one last look at the smirk smeared across Chows face. The monk gave her another one of her warm smiles and started to lead the company away towards the main streets. Dawa didn't know how to feel as she took one last look at the orphanage, it held so many terrible memories but good ones as well. It was the only home she had ever known, and Dawa really hoped that this wasn't a mistake.

The half orange-half scruffy parade made their way through the bustling streets of Ba Sing Se towards the gate in the outer wall. Dawa had almost given up hope of seeing Shin before she left, but still scanned all the many faces they crossed in the street. It was all to no avail, and as the sun started to set the main rush of the day died as the streets got quieter. As the gate came into view, Dawa became acutely aware that if she wanted to stay, all she had to do was slip away from the monks and her time left to do this was running out. But no- this was good, she might never get this chance again and even though Chow was trying to get her out of his life, he was helping hers. She could become a monk and travel the world, maybe she could be free. But Dawa knew she would come back one day, she would help her people and end the hardships of The Lower Ring. Maybe she would even open her own orphanage, the future suddenly held so many possibilities. Dawa could see through the gate now, she could see the amber landscape in the setting sun, the landscape she was finally going to step on. As the leader of the party passed through the gate and out of Ba Sing Se, Dawa slowed down and turned. She took one last look at Ba Sing Se, and one more look for Shin. She was about to turn and leave when she noticed a figure on a rooftop. She was a long way from it, but was it? Yes it was, it was Shin. Dawa felt a flash of sadness, and steadily raised her hand to solemnly wave at her friend. "I'm gunna be back Shin..." She promised to him, though he was a long way from the sad murmur floating in the bustle of Ba Sing Se. Dawa turned and took the first step in her journey towards the setting sun in the west


	6. Chapter 6: Huzo and Una

**Chapter 6**

Dawa was bored. She was definitely not used to the life she had just started, it seemed almost opposite to the one she had back in Ba Sing Se. Dawa spent most of her time wondering if she had made the wrong choice, maybe she should have stayed an orphan on the streets of Ba Sing Se...at least she could come and go as she pleased within the city. These Air Nomads didn't seem to want to let her out of their sight. "It's dangerous!" They had said to her. Dawa hardly believed it, people said that The Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se was dangerous and she hadn't seen anybody around apart from them for miles and miles. But that wasn't the point apparently; the nomads had been confronted by her annoyance and had explained that it wasn't other people they were worried about. Dawa, puzzled, had put down this danger to animals. She had had the luck to manage to sneak onto the Ba Sing Se Zoo with an unknowing family on one occasion and was greeted by a range of fierce looking animals. But as she explained that she was not scared of any animal, no matter the size, the nomads just seemed to shake their heads and mutter something about spirits. Dawa gave up instead of pressing them further, she never believed in anything she hadn't seen with her own eyes and she had seen many things on the streets of the biggest city around. Dawa assumed that these bold Air Nomads were a bunch of cowardly monks scared of their own shadows.

Instead Dawa had tried to make friends with some of her fellow recruits. She could tell that some of them had come from The Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se, she had never been there but it wasn't hard to single them out, she'd seen enough of the lost children of The Lower Ring to see it in their eyes. That and their clothes, which were generally clean and packed especially rather than the ragged tunics that were all the street children had owned. As she searched for some kind of friendship among her companions, all she got in return was disappointment. Many of the older scruffier kids had dismissed her because of her age and most of the younger kids seemed very afraid of whole thing. She had however managed to find some comfort with one of the boys from The Middle Ring. Dawa had nicknamed him 'Silent' because he never said a word, in fact when Dawa had tried to communicate in various ways he hadn't acknowledged her at all. Despite this, she could tell he didn't mind her company somehow, they always seemed to find each other as the company walked and next to her he had stayed.

Dawa had never seen past the horizon as she glanced past the walls of her home, however the reality of the scenery seem fairly boring to her. They had been travelling on foot for several days but the sight she was greeted seemed very generic; just fields and trees with the occasional stream or river. When they had come across their first stream Dawa was reminded once again of her secret ability, and as she journeyed across the fields of The Earth Kingdom that was what she thought about most. It occurred to her to ask the nomads, some of them seemed quite knowledgeable but she seemed almost scared. It didn't feel like it was small occurrence, it felt like a big deal and if she told someone Dawa could only see it being inconvenient. She seemed to like having a secret all of her own anyway.

The company once again stopped for the night. The sun was just disappearing over the hills as the company halted in a reasonably large flat area not too far in between what seemed to be a small forest and a rocky area, with large boulders and jagged rocks jutting out of the floor to form miniature mountain ranges. Dawa and Silent were at the back of the line of soon-to-be acolytes with the nice lady monk that had greeted Dawa in Ba Sing Se. By now she knew the drill, she would quietly find a patch of land, normally next to Silent, and claim it for her sleeping area. The richer kids and some of the luckier ones had managed to acquire tents to sleep in so they hurriedly put them up. Dawa didn't mind too much though, she had been given a sleeping bag and the temperature really wasn't that bad this time of year. The acolytes handed out some food, and the company passed around the rations and made sure everyone got a fair share. Dawa could see in some of their faces that they were unimpressed by the standard of the bread and dried fruits, it hadn't taken them long to realise that all of the nomads were vegetarians. Dawa was still just glad to be eating regularly, even if she did miss meat. The monks hadn't waited to get to the Northern Air Temple to start training and generally they lectured the children on some of the ways of the Air Nomads. At first Dawa had been interested to hear about their ways, but she had realised that she didn't really believe most of the stuff they were saying about 'spirits' and 'energies'. She lay down and stared up at the stars and hoped that it would look like she was listening, but she doubted it. She watched Silent put his tent up beside her out of the corner of her eye and casually decided that she was going to sneak away tonight for water bending practise. She had been thinking about it for a while but hadn't really found her chance. It would be hard; there was always one of the acolytes watching out, though the fact that she seen a large stream running round the corner of the rocks was just too tempting.

Dawa opened her eyes and covertly flicked her eyes around the company. She had cleverly placed herself between the fire at the centre of the camp and the stream, so she had the best chance to slip off. It had been a couple of hours or so since the monks had urged the company to get some rest, it didn't take much persuading; many of them, including Dawa, weren't used to walking all day. A lonely monk sat by the fire keeping watch, they all seemed quite worried about attack still though he did look like he was in his own little world staring into the flames. She had played with the idea of sending a rock over the camp to the other side to draw attention with her earth bending but it seemed it was going to be easier than that. To her left another kid slept and to her right Silent's tent stood quietly, ruffling in the very light breeze. She reached her hand out towards the edge of the darkness surrounding the travellers and put her hand to the ground. Dawa always took comfort in the cold, still earth. With one last look over her shoulder she slunk out of the lit camp and into the darkness.

Dawa stared at the fidgeting column of water rising out of the stream below her hand. "I'm getting better at this" she thought to herself with a small smile which could barely be read through the concentration on her face. Over the next hour or so Dawa lost herself to her practise. Half of her mind wandered while the other half was fixed on the stream. After many attempts she had managed to get the column of water to rise and split off from the stream and she was now holding it in the air with both hands, the strip of water writhing all over not unlike a snake. Her face suddenly embraced her smile for a second before a slight lack of concentration made her drop a couple of droplets back into the stream with a few small splashes. Being so committed to her cause meant very few things would break her away from her practise, but the combination of an unearthly glow and terrified shouting that followed was one of them.

The first thing Dawa noticed was an odd light shimmering through her manipulated water. It seemed like bright blue-purple light, though it carried some kind of weird darkness with it that confused her. This was when she heard the scream. Dawa found it indecipherable, but she snapped her head round towards the scream anyway though all she was greeted with was the darkness, the camp was out of sight still. Dropping the water, Dawa sprung towards the anguished sounds stopping suddenly as she noticed something stirring in the corner of her eye, something that blazed with bright blue-purple light carrying some kind of weird darkness. Dawa turned to see the twisted sight waiting for her on the opposite side of the stream. She had never seen anything like it but her mind tried its best and equated it too the Hippo-phant she had seen at the zoo, but in truth this wasn't even close. The creature was huge, crouching on four spindly, twisted legs as if ready to pounce. Its skin seemed blacker than the night behind it, but was somehow illuminated but not by the moonlight. Where Dawa thought its head should be there was nothing except three small, red, blinking glows. Dawa stood rooted to the spot in terror, nothing she had ever seen before had prepared her for this moment. She had always thought that had her life been in danger, that she would have fought tooth and claw, she could even see her protecting herself in this very scenario in her head but in reality she had not moved a muscle. The creature moved towards. Dawa had no idea how, it didn't seem to be moving any of its body, and it seemed to be just floating. As the being got closer, Dawa's internal screams got louder, with one word echoing through her head, but still she stood fast, eyes staring unrelenting. Dawa caught the sight of another limb protrude from behind it, seemingly out of nowhere and she knew her time was up as she watched it coil up for an attack. The echoing word finally made it past her mouth as her grimacing lips twitched to the sound of a whispered "MOVE!" Dawa regained a little courage out of nowhere and she finally managed to move herself, but it was too little too late. She raised a small wall of earth between her and the monster, but it's striking tail hit straight through the solid rock and she got the full force of the blow in the chest. The attack easily threw Dawa off her feet and she flew five or six meters back. The last thing she consciously remembered was heading towards a wall of rock, very fast.

* * *

Huzo felt the warmth of the morning sun reach down and touch his sleep-heavy eyelids. He smiled; he was loving every minute of his recent travelling. He felt such tranquillity crossing the great plains of the Earth Kingdom and adored sleeping out underneath the star studded display of the night. Huzo had, up to quite recently, been living with his mother in a small village a fair while from here, but he had packed it in when he had met his travelling companion. Just as his mind drifted to her, Una appeared heading towards him from behind one of the larger nearby shrubs. At first, she had not been so keen to let him tag along, but he could be quite stubborn and she eventually caved. Huzo watched the girl walk towards him in the half affectionate, half nervous look about him that he always unwillingly supported when she was around. Though he had been getting used to it, he had been travelling with her for a month or so. The faint wind blew at Una's fair hair, ruffling at the sides of her head flickering in front of her piercing blue eyes. He had supposed she was his age, maybe a bit older; sixteen maybe seventeen, though he hadn't asked her. Una was not exactly talkative, especially when it came her own business. A smirk bled across Huzo face involuntary, as she approached.

"Hey Una." Huzo started "Been up for long?" He asked. Una didn't particularly look at him, just went over to her bag and started routing around. "Yes." She replied, the always serious tone apparent in her voice. Huzo got himself out of his sleeping bag quickly, he wanted to be up and ready for Una, he hated feeling like he was weighing her down. "So do we know where we are going yet?" Huzo asked, trying not to sound too much like a nagging child. Huzo has his reasons for leaving his home, though these weren't particularly acted upon when it came to their adventure. For the past month Huzo had been learning the ropes of survival from Una and following and 'helping' her. He had followed her halfway across the Earth Kingdom and into Ba Sing Se, to which the pair had met with an unseemly loss of direction. Una had suspected that she would at least have found a lead in the city, and had been extremely disappointed when they found nothing. It reflected in her mood all too well and she was quieter than usual.

"Over there..." Una cast her arms along the tree line, not taking her eyes off her bag. This puzzled Huzo, it wasn't quite the reply he was expecting. Una did up her bag, threw it over her shoulder and picked up her tall walking staff and headed off. "Wait for me!" Huzo jumped into his shoes and gathered his stuff together as quick as he could. "Where are we going?" He said after a while when he had caught up with his companion. Una kept her eyes ahead, her staff hitting the ground periodically aside her strides. "Whilst I was doing some gathering this morning I found a camp." She explained. Huzo wasn't too interested in meeting fellow travellers; it wasn't an experience that went well too often. Sometimes they had been thieves or just plain weirdos. "Who's camp?"  
"Not a clue, it seems abandoned." She explained.

Abandoned would not have been the word that Huzo had chosen to describe it. It was indeed abandoned but also half destroyed. Whoever had left the camp had left in a hurry under certain duress. The embers of the fire had been kicked a few metres and items of clothing and belongings were strewn around. Both of the discovering pair immediately underwent a finer exploration of the area and it was another of those times where the two of them showed their unlikely pairing. Fuelled by intrigue, Una looked around the camp for more signs and clues to what had occurred. Huzo however, was keen to find out what had been left behind. He would have use for more clothes, but he was hoping to find some sort of food, or if he was lucky, money. He dived into to the nearest bag; it was half full with its contents spilling out the sides. With a greedy smile Huzo plunged his hands into its depths feeling around for cold hard metal. As he did this, the bag shifted slightly towards him uncovering a large track in the dirt. Huzo's smile dropped and his prying hands froze. "UNAAA!" he called very loudly, he saw her annoyed face turn to him out of the corner of his eye. Una hurried over after spying the print in the hard ground and let out a gasp. Huzo was on his feet backing with a very scared look on his face. He shook Una. "Come on lets go!" he said quietly but with a feigned authority. Una, not looking away, just batted his hurried hands away. "Go where?" She said uninterested as she bent down to get a different angle of the ground. "Away from the scary print!" The fear was very apparent in his voice. "Huzo if this creature is not here, heading away from this print could be heading towards it." Una explained completely calmly.  
"ahhh." Terrified but finding no fault in Una's logic, Huzo instinctively looked over his shoulders. "Oh, I don't like this one bit!" He whined and not for the first time Una sighed.  
"If we learn what we can here we shall be more prepared later" Una stroked the indentation with her index finger, before getting back to her feet. Huzo watched as she walked away from the centre of the camp and headed round a rocky corner. "Where are you going?!" he asked incredulously still searching his surroundings for the signs of anything that meant him harm. Huzo didn't wait for a reply before heading off in Una's direction as fast as he could; he had no desire to be alone anywhere near there. Una obviously didn't dignify his outburst with a reply, though after a few seconds Huzo realised she was following more weird tracks in the dirt.

Round the corner, Huzo found himself in a small clearing of a rocky area; a delicate stream ran through some rocks not far away. Una carried on past the stream but Huzo slowed to once again check the danger of his surroundings. His worried eyes flicked around the scene, making sure that no hidden monsters were ready to strike from the shadows and kill him, until something caught his eye. Huzo had noticed a huge crack in the boulder opposite the stream, and open mouthed he walked towards it. For a moment curiosity took over from fear, and he peered at the crack which was amazingly deep into the rock. "Una.." He called, but too soft in his bewilderment and she didn't quite catch it and she carried on away from him. Huzo's mind began to race as he began to speculate at the type of creature than had so much power to almost cleave the boulder in two. The anxiety spread across his face as he put his left hand on the smooth stony surface of the rock as if to check its genuine presence. Huzo's brain began forming huge twisted faces of the creature, when something moved inside the rock. Huzo screamed.

* * *

Dawa's head hurt. No, hurt didn't cover it, pain seared across her skull as she struggled to move. She really had to fight the pain to get her brain working again. "Where am I?" she thought. "Why can't I move?" Dawa still tried to recollect earlier memories, but with no avail as she struggled harder. She began to panic as memories started returning to her, memories of the horrible monster. She heard a scream in the distance and wondered if she was dead. "I should never have left home!" She screamed at herself inside her head. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she let her body fall limp in defeat; surely it was all over for her now. She felt a small breeze on her right foot before she felt something poke it hard. Confusion overwhelmed her for a second before she remembered the final memory, the last one she had before she had blacked out. Dawa took a deep breath, and with a gritted teeth and a cry of anguish, she moved.

* * *

Huzo had turned and ran as he screamed, with not a thought to his dignity. Una had rushed to his side with the worry of danger and got the truth of the story out of Huzo eventually. With adrenaline still coursing through his body, he watched Una proceed towards the rock, with her staff held high, to the sound of his own heartbeat. Huzo caught his breath as she approached the rock, the rest of his body primed to take off and flee at a moment's notice. As Una peered into the moving crack, Huzo noticed her body relax and she lifted her staff and jabbed it into the hole. She gestured for Huzo to come out from the rock he was hiding from before she jumped at a deafening crack. Both the travellers stood open mouthed as a girl seemingly punched her way out of the side of the boulder, rocks crumbling and falling to the floor. She look terrible, covered in dust with dried blood covering one side of her head.

* * *

Dawa had never been so glad for the light of day. She had used the very last of her strength to push her way out of her rock prison, and barely managed it. She just knelt still catching the sun's rays on her cold face, not yet completely aware of the two other people stood staring at her. "How...?" said someone in a slow voice of awe. It was only then Dawa looked towards one of the two who seemed to be a guy, though her eyes hadn't adjusted yet. "That is some impressive earth bending" Dawa turned to the other voice and perceived the blur in front of her to be female. "Were you from the camp? What attacked you?" The female voice continued to ask. Dawa felt her head drop as she clutched her face, remembering the twisted mess that had confronted her. "I-I...I don't know..." she managed and her voice cracked. The sudden realisation of the consequences of the attack hit her. "What time is it? Where are the others?!" Dawa started to panic, and as her vision started to clear she put her weight on her right leg to get up, only for it to buckle and she hit the floor again. Dawa felt unconsciousness again, and tried to fight it of the best she could. "Huzo, help me get her back to the camp. Now!" Dawa heard in the distance.

Dawa opened her eyes, she felt so much better. As she stared up at the sky she was acutely aware that it had darkened somewhat, she must have been asleep a fair few hours. She lifted herself of the floor slightly to see where she was. Dawa recognized the camp from the previous night; though it looked empty, save for the boy hunched over a frail recently lit fire. She also noticed a pile of belongings by one of the rocks that she recognised from the air nomad company. Dawa strained herself upright and coughed. "Oh, you are awake." The boy turned and said with a smile. "Here have this, I hoped it would be warmer but I get the fire going. You must be starving!" He walked over and handed her a warm bowl of soup. She didn't actually realise she was hungry until she caught the smell, immediately her stomach growled. "It's Dawa actually...thank you." She responded taking no time to start eating. The boy looked confused for a second, as his left hand ruffled through his dark hair but he realised what she had meant. "Oh right! I'm Huzo, nice to meet you! And the girl is Una...though she has gone to scout the area...she should be back soon." He finished with an awkward smile. Dawa wasn't paying much attention to him, only to the rapidly diminishing soup in front of her. Coincidently Dawa caught the figure of Una in the reach of the firelight as she headed towards them.

"What's the damage?" Huzo asked Una, she flicked her eyes between him and the newly awake Dawa.  
"There are visible signs of whatever-it-was all around the area, but it's definitely gone. It must have been big though, it managed to take out an adult Moose-Lion...I came across the corpse..." Una stopped; Dawa could see the worry in the creases of her face. "However there seems to be no signs of other trouble or struggle. It seems that the rest of your friends are long gone but probably safe." She looked right into Dawa's eyes. "What happened?" She continued with a certain demanding tone. Normally Dawa would have complained when someone talked to her in that way, but she was tired, and she hurt and these people had come along at the right time. "I, um, don't really know." Dawa paused. "I wasn't with the rest of the camp when we got attacked..." The thought of the monster that greeted her sent shivers down her spine again. "Why weren't you with your group?" Una asked again, not taking her eyes of Dawa.  
"Because I wasn't!" Dawa replied, ruffled. Huzo stepped in.  
"Okay, that's enough Una, she's not guilty of anything!" He shot her a look and Una took her eyes of Dawa. "Dawa, did you see what it was?" He tried to ask softly. She met his gaze, but stayed silent. Dawa supposed the fear on her face was apparent, Huzo went quiet but Una cut in.  
"You saw a spirit didn't you," She said. "Black as night, but shimmering like the stars..." Una trailed off, as she went to sit on the ground. Dawa just nodded as her thoughts went back to the monks warning her. It seems so long ago, she would have laughed at her naivety if she hadn't felt like crying.

The trio sat in quiet for a while, all unsure what to say next. Since the recent mention of Dawa's assailant Huzo had reformed to his paranoid stat, throwing glimpses over his shoulder every now and then. Una broke the silence eventually. "Where are you headed?" she asked.  
"Umm," Dawa looked puzzled "Well I was heading to the northern air temple, I was travelling with the air acolytes...I guess they are long gone now though..." She felt like crying again.  
"Huzo and I are heading North-West as well and tracking your lot shouldn't be too difficult, there was quite a few of you. We can drop you off on the way if you like?" Una smiled and Dawa met it weakly. "We'll start of in the morning; we've got a lot of ground to cover so make sure you rest up."

* * *

A twig snapped. Huzo sat bolt upright and peered around the moonlit camp. He saw nothing; the night was clear and calm. "Must have dreamt it." He muttered to himself as he went to lie back down. He quickly checked his sleeping companions but was slightly worried when he realised that there was one missing. "Dawa?" He muttered once again scanning the area. Huzo trained his ears and noticed something, a girl's voice. Suspicion rose in him as he grabbed Una's staff and slowly crept towards the sound. It seemed to be coming from around the same area that they found Dawa previously. Huzo crouched behind the rock, much like he had earlier on that day. As smooth as he could he poked his eyes over the rock. There, in the moonlight, Huzo was greeted with a strange sight. Dawa was whispering and laughing, playing with a small animal by manipulating water streaming through the air in spirals. "Dawa," Huzo said quietly, but loud enough. Dawa's smile dropped slightly as she looked up."Are you...?"


End file.
